ReviewFrontiers in sports and active living2026
Assessing mental fatigue in football: a systematic review.
Review in Frontiers in sports and active living, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Mental fatigue is a psychophysiological state that can impair cognitive, technical, tactical, and physical performance in football. Despite growing interest in this topic, there is currently no standardized approach for assessing and monitoring mental fatigue in football contexts. This systematic review aimed to (i) synthesize the evidence regarding the effects of mental fatigue on football performance and (ii) identify the methodologies currently used to induce, detect, and analyze mental fatigue in football. Methods: Following PRISMA 2020 guidelines, a systematic search was conducted in the PubMed, Web of Science, SportDiscus, Scopus, and Springer Nature Link. Studies published between 1 January 2014 and 15 May 2026 in English, Portuguese, Spanish or French were included. Methodological quality was assessed using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool. Twenty-eight studies met the eligibility criteria. Results: The findings showed that mental fatigue generally impairs football performance, particularly decision-making, technical execution, tactical behavior, attention, and perceived exertion. However, the magnitude and consistency of these effects varied according to the type of performance outcome assessed and the methodological approaches used across studies. Subjective assessment tools, such as visual analogue scales and perceived workload measures, were the most commonly used methods, whereas objective approaches, including eye-tracking systems, functional near-infrared spectroscopy, and psychomotor vigilance tests, were less frequently applied. Overall, substantial methodological heterogeneity and the absence of standardized assessment protocols limited comparisons between studies and reduced the practical app licability of findings. Conclusion: Current evidence suggests that mental fatigue negatively affects multiple dimensions of football performance, although methodological inconsistencies remain substantial. There is a clear need for standardized, ecologically valid assessment and monitoring protocols integrating both subjective and objective measures to improve performance management and recovery strategies in football.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.